Glimpses of an urban journey

Different media, lucid audience participation and an interesting concept explored — altogether, ‘AadhaaraChakra — a Dancelogue’ makes for an interesting experience. This performance, which will happen at Ravindra Kalakshetra on November 23, weaves together many disciplines and is set to depict the urban landscape of the country.

“This production, that happened with the support of the Goethe-Institute/Max Mueller Bhavan, looks at the urban side of the country — with contemporary changes that may have caused turbulences. I didn’t want to make just another city piece. I wanted to imagine the thoughts of the people as they are influenced by the Hindu culture, sufi traditions and Southern and Northern influences of the country,” says Jayachandran Palazhy, artistic director of Attakkalari and choreographer of this performance.

‘AadhaaraChakra — a Dancelogue’ uses different ways of expression like movement, film, light, multimedia design and sound. Oscillating between the past and the present, this work invites the audience to partake a ritualised experience. In a complex and often fragmented narrative, the dancers embody characters from diverse Indian locales and periods. “We’ve included films and digital images in the performance to depict a visual journey. And different forms of movement like kalaripayattu, kathak and bharatanatyam have been brought together,” says Jayachandran.

The background of the performance includes glimpses of a small village with jasmine vendors, vegetable sellers, bangle shops and tricycles. Vendors calling out, loud music from temples and mosques and cricket commentary blend together into an urban Indian cacophony.

“AadhaaraChakra can be translated as the ‘cycle of the soul’ and here, people are impermanent carriers of memories. What is interesting is that in this performance, reality is shown in black and white and memories are depicted in colour,” elucidates Jayachandran.

Jayachandran details that the idea of this production was generated about one and half years back and the production took about a year. Music composed by Sam Auinger and Martin Lutz, filmic images shot by Rupert Schwarzbauer, architectural spaces designed by Dominic Dube and the light design by Pipon — interacting with Ken Furudate’s digital design — add surprise elements to the production. The elegant costumes have been designed by Sanchita and Jyoti Sachdev.

Tickets are available on indianstage.in, bookmyshow.com or at the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, Wilson Garden.